I know for a fact that not every child is a nail biter because of my three kids; one of them has never bitten his nails. This is an incredibly common “bad habit,” however, and one that some parents fight hard to combat. But, can you as a parent actually stop a child from biting his or her nails or is it just something they will need to outgrow?
There have been times when I haven’t wondered that nail biting is some sort of natural human/mammal behavior that just hasn’t been bred out of us yet with evolution. I’m sure it served a purpose back before there were tools like nail clippers but in our modern age, it is unacceptable. Our kids don’t know that of course, and often before we can stop it– a bad habit is born. Some children progress directly from thumb-sucking to biting their fingernails while others pick up the habit in response to stress.
So, what can you do? There are products that are supposed to deter thumb sucking and biting the fingernails and these might work for some. The more tenacious kids just won’t be deterred however and parents may worry about what they might be ingesting. I have also heard that some parents have had luck stopping the nail biting by painting the fingernails–some children won’t bite them if their nails can look “pretty” or “cool.”
Other parents have had success with bribes or rewards. There are definitely those kids who will respond to goal-setting and a promised reward–a special treat or trip or activity if they go a certain number of days without biting their nails. The only thing is that all of these parental efforts can backfire and make a child feel self-conscious and/or as if mom or dad is being judgmental. What starts out as a bad habit can turn into a complex or something much bigger with TOO MUCH attention. Some of us parents choose to let nail biting be one of those “little things” that we ignore. Unless a child is hurting himself or the nail biting is a symptom of something much larger, it will probably be something that he eventually outgrows and decides to stop on his own. If nail biting is a reaction to stress, helping the child learn other coping skills and addressing the stress issues may have a more positive affect all around.
Any other ideas or suggestions for combating (or not) nail biting?
Also: Stop the Nail Biting